President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced on Tuesday the government’s decision to increase the wages of the Indonesian Military’s (TNI) village supervisory non-commissioned officers (Babinsa) by up to 771 percent across the country.

Starting from July, Babinsa personnel with the lowest income of Rp 310,000 (US$22.3) per month will reportedly get Rp 2.7 million per month, an increase of 771 percent. Meanwhile, personnel with the highest income of Rp 1.3 million will get their salaries increased to Rp 3.6 million per month, Jokowi said.

“I suppose all Babinsa personnel, especially those in remote areas, will be very happy upon hearing this announcement," Jokowi said during a breaking-of-the-fast gathering at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Tuesday.

The President said Babinsa personnel were stationed in remote areas across Indonesia where they were directly in touch with the local residents; therefore, they needed to get “more allowance”. “We hope they [Babinsa] will show better and concrete performance,” he added.

During the event, President Jokowi also announced that the performance allowances for members of TNI and the National Police would be increased by 70 percent in July.

Meanwhile, TNI commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto expected that the Babinsa personnel would improve their performance, including to intensify their activities to secure public order. These include ensuring that guests visiting a village for more than 24 hours file a report with the respective neighborhood unit (RT). (ebf)